Ina Norris

American dramatist

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as Reflinks (documentation), reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

Ina Norris is a playwright, poet, producer, off Broadway producer, mentor, and educator. She lives in The Bronx, New York.[1] Her first play Nobody Loves a Black Little Girl When She Becomes A Woman, was an examination through the experiences of a Black woman.

## Contents

* 1 Early life and education
* 2 Career
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## Early life and education[edit]

Norris is a native New Yorker. She graduated from Hampton University, in Virginia with a degree in psychology.

## Career[edit]

Norris is a community coordinator, and a public servant in social services. She has worked as the Director for the Performing Arts at the Learning Tree Preparatory School in the Bronx, New York. She mentors inner city youth into theater, and writes and produces to educate youth about life through theater. She is the founder of the NYC Young Producers Project.[2][3][4] In 1991, Norris created In A Woman Productions. She was founder and director of the Kwanzaa Film Festival that was started in 2017.

She wrote the play Nobody Loves a Black Little Girl When She Becomes a Woman that focuses on self-love and examining one's self and society through the lens of being a black woman. She described the play as "being a piece that is a theatrical sermon on loving yourself".[5] Norris produced and wrote the play A Secret Lies Inside My Sister's Womb which made its debut at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Her third play Ain't Yo Mama Crying On The Pancake Box-Car, for which she was awarded a Gregory Millard New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship, debuted at the Henry Street Settlement Playhouse in New York City.[citation needed] She produced The Turnstyle Warrior, which debuted at the American Theater for Actors and was also performed at the Negro Ensemble Company, and hosted by Broadway producer Danny Simmons of Rush Philanthropic. Its music was produced by Dame Grease. Her play Don't Play That Song for me, was produced by Barbara Ann Teer of the National Black Theatre. She produced the play Danny's Waltz with Danny Simmons of Def Poetry Jam.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

Norris has been a New York Foundation Fellow Playwright since 2002.[citation needed] She is a Poetry Society winner of the Editors' Choice Award.[citation needed]

## References[edit]

1. ^ HighBeam[dead link]
2. ^ "Join the Guild".
3. ^ "Festivals & Events: Martin Luther King Showcase | Backstage". www.backstage.com. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
4. ^ "Crew — KNUCKLEHEAD". www.knuckleheadfilm.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-30.
5. ^ HighBeam[dead link]
6. ^ "Artists Archive".
7. ^ Erectus, Verticus (2009-04-08). "Ina Norris' THE TURNSTYLE WARRIOR 5/5-10 (NYC)". Ina Norris' THE TURNSTYLE WARRIOR 5/5-10 (NYC) — Ina Norris — AAPEX. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
8. ^ "Slated › Where great movies get made". www.slated.com. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
9. ^ "doollee.com - the playwrights database of modern plays". www.doollee.com. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
10. ^ http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=TUR5
11. ^ "ABOUT CLARENCE AND ME Chronicles a Chance Encounter at TNC's Dream up Festival".

## External links[edit]

* Ina Norris Interviewed by Sheron Mickie at YouTube
* It is Just a Word. at YouTube
* Ina Norris - Down Deep at YouTube